Category: Sports

Suck it up and buy a vacuum

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Most Canadians prefer fake christmas trees to real ones. Therefore, most Canadians are nimrods. The most annoying thing about artificial tree makers? They now insist on calling their products “everlasting” instead.

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I just got some dark chocolate in the mail, courtesy of Stanzi. Nothin’ beats mail chocolate.

.:.

Also courtesy of Stanzi (sort of) we got our first shipment from Green Earth Organics today. After she posted a picture of their produce on her blog we signed up…not that I have any particular desire for organic food, but because I have to admit to myself that I’ll be much more likely to eat good produce if it’s brought to my door than if I’m left to buy it. We’re not sold on the quality yet though; the greens seemed pretty slimy. Maybe it’s a one-time thing, or maybe it’s just what you live with when you buy organic. We’ll give it a few weeks and, if it doesn’t get better, figure out a plan B.

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Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet has the best SV% and GAA in the NHL, but he was left off the all-star ballot. Surely that must’ve stung a bit, but what does he do? He gets a shutout in his next start. Suck it, NHL.

.:.

The tories are finally putting the same-sex marriage debate back in the house. Good. Let’s get it over with and move on already.

[tags]dark chocolate, green earth organics, cristobal huet, canadiens, same-sex marriage debate, fake christmas trees[/tags]

In this archdiocese, God don't run the bingo.

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We saw The Departed (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. I really, really liked it. I’ve never really understood the whole Scorsese love affair, but this one was primo shit. I didn’t feel ripped off at all that — once again — Casino Royale was sold out. Thoughts:

  • The cast was so talented — and so plentiful — that it bordered on unfair. When you have actors as good as Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Anderson in supporting bit parts, you’re set.
  • Based on what I’d heard about Jack Nicholson’s performance I was prepared for scenery-chewing on a cosmic scale, but it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t even Pacino-in-Devil’s–Advocate bad.
  • DiCaprio’s finally growing on me again. At long last he might be shedding the Titanic/Beach odor. Anyway, a few more Scorsese movies should do it.
  • I believe Hollywood has finally perfected the head shot blood spatter effect. We got plenty of supporting evidence last night.

Highly recommended, unless you don’t like violence. CB, I’m looking at you; I’d tell you to watch it and just turn away when you think somebody might get shot, but really…you wouldn’t see much of the film.

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I got home last night in time to see the third period of the Canadiens game. I saw Saku Koivu tie it up in the 3rd, and I saw Sheldon Souray score with 1 second left in OT to steal one from the Sabres.

As surprisingly well as the Leafs have been playing, Montreal’s one point behind them in the standings with three games in hand. Buffalo’s still dominating the division, and now that Ottawa seems to have turned it around, the Northeast division is suddenly a powerhouse. Even Boston, the worst team in the division, has a .500 record.

[tags]the departed, canadiens, sabres, northeast division[/tags]

Minor payback

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The Canadiens just exacted a tiny measure of revenge against the Carolina Hurricanes for knocking them out of the playoffs last season. The Habs won 4-0, and Saku Koivu scored one of the goals, which must have felt good. The last time Koivu faced the ‘Canes, Justin Williams almost skewered his eyeball.

[tags]montreal canadiens, carolina hurricanes[/tags]

"My two lovely friends"

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It’s true: Deal Or No Deal is the dumbest game show ever. It’s so dumbed-down, and requires so little brainpower from both contestant and viewer, it makes Wheel Of Fortune seem like a Mensa chapter meeting.

.:.

Speaking of the addle-minded, I have a new name for Leafs forward Darcy Tucker: SuperPussy. On Tuesday he was so pissed about his team getting crushed (final score: 6-2) by Ottawa that he started beating on Patrick Eaves, who’s probably never fought in his life. Happily, Ottawa didn’t retaliate tonight by going after Kyle Wellwood or some similar non-combatant; instead they blasted the Leafs 7-2. Between that and Montreal’s last-second (well, almost…they scored with 1.2 seconds left) win over Boston, I’m a happy guy.

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A co-worker pointed out last night something I would never, ever have guessed: many of the Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits outlets here in Toronto serve halal chicken. When she first told me I thought she meant the entire chain, and I thus deemed her insane. But in fact, it appears to be true, so…yeah. That’s pretty weird. Of all the places I expected to serve halal meat, Popeye’s isn’t one of them.

[tags]deal or no deal, mensa, darcy tucker, patrick eaves, leafs, senators, popeye’s, halal[/tags]

Like he wasn't a big enough twat already

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Darcy Tucker loves him some Dubya.

“I would like to pick his brain,” Tucker said. “I think his political views are on the same line as my own. I think the wave of the future is someone who doesn’t back down to terrorism.”

Oy.

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Sometimes I hate living in Toronto. Tonight, my only option is watching the Leafs play Calgary instead of being able to see Montreal open their home season against Ottawa. And can someone explain to me why even French CBC isn’t carrying the Canadiens game?

[tags]darcy tucker, dubya, maple leafs, canadiens[/tags]

Mystery, wonder, freshness

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TV notes:

  • I like the new trend of shows not having opening credits with a long stupid song. Even ER has scaled back their marathon jingle.
  • People playing teenagers on TV are usually much older than their characters, hence, I don’t feel so dirty ogling the cheerleader on Friday Night Lights (who’s actually 26). However, I feel extremely dirty now that I’ve learned the cheerleader (do we see a trend here?) on Heroes is only 17.
  • The Colbert Report: better than the Daily Show?

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Sports notes:

  • The Canadiens took 5 of 6 points on their season-opening road trip, including a win over Philadelphia last night. Not a bad way to start, I guess.
  • Also: the Raptors don’t seem to suck too badly yet, though it is only the preseason. They won last night to go to 2-0.
  • The NBA has announced their plan to crack down on whining and bitching after calls (or non-calls). Say a prayer for poor Vince Carter.

.:.

Political notes:

  • Stephen Harper accuses all of the Liberal party leadership candidates of being “Anti-Israeli.” At least he restrained himself long enough to keep from calling them anti-semitic.
  • I don’t think the US can get out of Iraq right now. I think they should be trying their hardest to get out as soon as possible — and I don’t think they are right now — to minimize loss of life on both sides, but in the short term I think they need to stay. Obviously, I think it was a mistake of staggering proportions to invade Iraq in the first place, but now that they’ve made this mess they have to clean it up. You can’t kick down the door of a house, shoot one of the occupants, break all the furniture, set the place on fire, piss on the hallway floor and then just walk out yelling “My job here is done!” If you walk out of the house now, the guy you shot will bleed to death and the house’ll burn to ground. Now that you’re there, you’d damn well better put down the gun and grab a firehose to fix the problem you started. You broke it, you gotta pay for it. Tragically, the currency will be lives. Not that the guys who dreamt up the invasion care about that.

[tags]er, friday night lights, heroes, colbert report, canadiens, raptors, vince carter, stephen harper, iraq[/tags]

Brain –> page

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The Onion’s A.V. Blog reports that two of the TIFF films that I’m most anticipating might have trouble getting on screens south of the border. I suspect no such issues here in Canada, but it’s a sad state of affairs. As the article states,

“In both cases, films are being shut out of theaters for their ideas, not for any explicit or offensive content on the surface. These gatekeepers have basically decided that adults need to be shielded from ideas that they deem inappropriate. They’ve creating a special rating and it’s called GFY (Go Fuck Yourself).”

.:.

I might be in the minority, but I’m all for Hockey Night In Canada moving from CBC to TSN/CTV. Why? Because I, like most of the rest of the country, can’t stand watching the prime time game being called by a pair of Leafs homers who’re on the down slope of their careers. Bob Cole and Harry Neale may be nice guys, but you may as well go watch the game in your Toronto-fan grandpa’s rec room. Gord Miller’s a better play-by-play man, Pierre Maguire’s better at colour (and actually knows the names of some non-Leaf NHLers), and they have guys like Bob McKenzie, Glenn Healy, James Duthie and Chris Cuthbert to boot.

The best part: no more Don Cherry. I’d like it if they could salvage MacLean somehow, but if he has to be sacrificed in order to distract Cherry while they pack up the HNIC set, then so be it.

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Because all my music is encoded at 128kbps (it’s the only way it’ll all fit on my Nomad) I’m thinking this would be a good investment.

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Hey, WOXY’s back.

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Slides in a museum; bitchin’. My brother’s already mentioned it, but this exhibit at London’s Tate Modern looks very cool. When I was there that hall was filled with a giant (and I do mean giant; it was about a hundred feet tall) double-ended red horn.

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If I have time tonight I’ll try to post more pictures from our trip. Day 3 was the motherload (400+ pics) so it could take me a while to slog through them.

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I’ve finally had to pick up my next textbook. However, it’s a statistics course, and I find stats kind of interesting. Sick puppy, I know.

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New TV: Heroes has me hooked. Studio 60 is, apparently, in trouble, proving once again that Aaron Sorkin is too smart to write for television. I haven’t watched Friday Night Lights yet, but if it’s as good as the movie I’ll stick around for the ride.
[tags]d.o.a.p., deliver us from evil, hockey night in canada, creative xmod, woxy, tate modern, statistics, heroes, studio 60, friday night lights[/tags]

A non-Rockies post

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Let’s see, what happened while we were gone and ignoring the news (apart from the obvious like the whole Foley-page thing and the continuing deaths of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan)?

  • Nova Scotia seems to have quietly taken the Sunday shopping ban out behind the barn and shot it. Good for them; they can sit at the grown-up table with the rest of us now. Seriously, though, I’m glad; one day we’d like to move back there and we couldn’t do it while that ridiculous ban was in place. I couldn’t abide the idea of a selectively-applied religious Christian tradition telling me when and how I could spend money. When I lost some luggage before a friend’s wedding I couldn’t buy a replacement shirt and tie, but I could’ve gone to the casino or bought some tacky tourist kitsch on the waterfront. Foolish. Anyway, congratulations to NS for embracing change. Love the windmills, kids. Don’t throw your shoes at them.
  • If you need further proof that the Bush administration is batshit insane, look no further than the fact that Stephen Baldwin is a cultural advisor to the president.
  • The sting of the Canadiens blowing a 2-goal lead to the Sabres on Friday night, including allowing the tying goal with 15 seconds left, was soothed with a shootout win over the Leafs on Saturday.
  • Vinnie Vincent, brief guitarist for Kiss (just at the end of the makeup era) has been denied royalties to the one album he (officially) played on: Lick It Up. You know you’re in bad shape when you’re asking for royalties from a 25-year-old album that’s considered poor even by Kiss’ standards…

[tags]sunday shopping, stephen baldwin, canadiens, sabres, leafs, vinnie vincent, kiss[/tags]

In the home stretch

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About twelve hours from now we’ll be home. Or close to it; probably cruising somewhere over the midwest. Our flight is early tomorrow morning so we took it fairly easy tonight: we found some afternoon snacks, relaxed in the room (I watched the Habs beat the Leafs in a shootout while Nellie watched her new addiction: Battlestar Galactica) and went out for some microbrews and excellent pizzas at Hop In Brew. We’re now just packing up and and showering, trying to salvage all the sleep we can before the 5:00 alarm. It’s been a great vacation — probably our best ever — but we’re ready to go home now.

Next broadcast will either be a complaint from the airport or a sigh of relief as we get home.

[tags]calgary, hop in brew, canadiens, leafs[/tags]